Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) Shares Bought by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,355 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $7,215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Mastercard during the 1st quarter worth $660,652,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Mastercard by 145.6% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,777,468 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $784,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,616 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mastercard by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,253,734 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $32,096,470,000 after buying an additional 742,076 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in Mastercard by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,041,685 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $8,974,478,000 after purchasing an additional 676,452 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,608,023 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,803,956,000 after purchasing an additional 605,909 shares in the last quarter. 97.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Mastercard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $531.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $500.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $480.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Mastercard from $490.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.70.

Mastercard Price Performance

MA stock opened at $493.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $471.70 and a 200-day moving average of $461.86. The company has a market cap of $459.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.25, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $359.77 and a 12-month high of $501.80.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 46.45% and a return on equity of 179.78%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. Mastercard’s payout ratio is 20.99%.

Insider Activity

In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Mastercard news, CMO Venkata R. Madabhushi sold 4,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.10, for a total value of $2,310,173.50. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 17,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,440,885.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 119,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.46, for a total transaction of $55,746,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 92,033,308 shares in the company, valued at $43,113,923,465.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 340,809 shares of company stock worth $159,610,703 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.